at have seen the rise of Christianity and the
growth of empires greater than Thebes ever dreamed of, the mummies of
these Pharaohs reposed here undisturbed. Now by the aid of skilfully
arranged electric lights you may descend into most of these tombs,
marvel at the beauty of the decorative inscriptions on the walls, gaze
upon the massive granite sarcophagi in which the mummies were placed,
and get a genuine taste of the antiquity that you have read about but
never fully realized before. This is the service of the tombs of the
kings--the actual turning back of the centuries so that one feels the
touch of the ancient days as vividly as he feels the hot, dust-laden,
oppressive air of the mausoleum.

The excursion from Luxor to the tombs of the kings and the Colossi of
Memnon, not far away, is a hard day's trip. The tourist crosses the Nile
in a small boat and takes a donkey or a carriage. The road leads along a
large canal, passing the remains of the great temple of Seti I at Kurna,
and thence winds around through two desert valleys into a gorge lined on
both sides with naked, sun-baked rocks that give back the heat like the
open doors of a furnace. Bare of any scrap of verdure, desolate beyond
expression, these rocky walls that shut in this gorge form a fitting
introduction to the tombs of the kings. The road finally turns to the
left and enters a small valley, encircled by huge rocks, cut by ravines.
Here one may see in the sides of the mountain wall the first of the
rock-hewn tombs, which happens to be that of Rameses IV. One enters the
large gateway and passes down an ancient staircase cut in the solid
rock, at an angle of forty-five degrees. Three corridors and an
ante-room, all carved out of rock, lead to the main chamber, which
contains the mammoth granite sarcophagus of the king (ten feet long,
eight feet high and seven feet wide), beautifully decorated with
inscriptions. Four other rooms follow, the walls of each being covered
with inscriptions. Recesses are found in the main hall for the storage
of the furniture of the dead and in several of the other rooms.

The theory of the Egyptians in the arrangement of these tombs was that
the dead king, guided by the great sun-god, voyaged through the
underworld every night in a boat. Hence he must have careful guidance in
regard to his route. This was furnished by elaborate extracts from two
sacred books of the Egyptians. One was entitled _The Book of Him Who Is
in the U